Do I need disc brakes for my road bike? all you need to know

In short no.

But that's not the end of the blog post.

With more and more manufacturers adding disc brake (hydraulic) options, and some pro teams going disc only, all season. The market is changing quickly.

For 2018 the Trek Segafredo Pro team will use discs exclusively!! Katusha plan to increase their use and the Sunweb team said they will spend more time on discs.

Whats wrong with calipers?

The humble brake caliper is a great solution to braking, its worked for decades, so why change what aint broken?

Innovation, progression and evolution.

With the evolution of the bike have come lighter and lighter wheels, carbon wheels. Calipers were never design for lightweight carbon wheels.

For this reason the walls of the carbon wheel have to be thicker and stronger to withstand the heat created by a caliper brake. If a carbon wheel fails due to heat when descending the result is horrific.

Equally when descending in the wet, on a carbon or alloy wheel, calipers require a lot of time to bite, they also need strong hands on long descents as squeezing constantly becomes tiring.

How do discs help?

As the disc sits at the hub and not on the rim the rims can be made lighter, and dont need the heat dissipation, making the wheels safer.

Also in the wet a disc performance does not degrade so the braking is more predictable and safer, with no requirement for grip training to squeeze the brakes with one finger in any conditions.

Disc wheels come with a through axle rather than a quick release skewer which means you get a stiffer solution.

Dont disc brakes require a lot of maintenance

The hydraulic fluid tends to need to be swapped every 12 - 18 months, any bike shop can do this or for $50 and a youtube video go for it.

The pads are a bit more expensive but they tend to last better than their caliper equivalent and require less tweaking through the life of the pad.

Conclusion

Nobody needs disc brakes, but if you are buying a new bike, safety is important to you, then why would you not?